Republican Preference: Romney And Perry Lead The GOP Field

In this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor (and as-yet-unannounced candidate) Rick Perry lead the Republicans field for the 2012 presidential nomination. They are followed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. ﻿

There continue to be two different Republican parties. Tea Party identifiers (44% of Republicans in this poll) favor Perry; non-Tea Party identifiers (56% of partisans) like Romney, Palin and Giuliani. ﻿

25% of Americans say they are following the presidential campaign (still months away from an official start) very closely. More Republicans — 31% -are. And so are even more Tea Party Republicans — 48% of them are following the campaign very closely. ﻿